Originally, the region was divided into the two provinces of Owari
and Mikawa . After the
Meiji Restoration , Owari and Mikawa were
united into a single entity. In 1871, after the abolition of the han
system , Owari, with the exception of the
Chita Peninsula , was
established as
Nagoya Prefecture, while Mikawa combined with the Chita
Peninsula and formed
Nukata Prefecture .
Nagoya Prefecture was renamed
to
Aichi Prefecture in April 1872, and was united with Nukata
Prefecture on November 27 of the same year.

The government of
Aichi Prefecture is located in the Aichi
Prefectural Government Office in Nagoya, which is the old capital of
Owari.

In the third volume of the _Man\'yōshū _ there is a poem by Takechi
Kurohito that reads: "The cry of the crane, calling to Sakurada; it
sounds like the tide, draining from Ayuchi flats, hearing the crane
cry". Ayuchi is the original form of the name _Aichi_, and the Fujimae
tidal flat is all that remains of the earlier Ayuchi-gata. It is now a
protected area.

For a time, an Aichi Station existed on the
Kansai Line (at the time
the Kansai Railway) between
Nagoya and Hatta stations, but its role
was overtaken by Sasashima-Live Station on the
Aonami Line and Komeno
Station on the Kintetsu
Nagoya Line .

Located near the center of the Japanese main island of
Honshu , Aichi
Prefecture faces the Ise and Mikawa Bays to the south and borders
Shizuoka Prefecture to the east,
Nagano Prefecture to the northeast,
Gifu Prefecture to the north, and
Mie Prefecture to the west. It
measures 106 km east to west and 94 km south to north and forms a
major portion of the
Nōbi Plain . With an area of 5,153.81 km2 it
accounts for approximately 1.36% of the total surface area of Japan.
The highest spot is Chausuyama at 1,415 m above sea level.

The western part of the prefecture is dominated by
Nagoya , Japan's
third largest city, and its suburbs, while the eastern part is less
densely populated but still contains several major industrial centers.
Due to its robust economy, for the period from October 2005 to October
2006, Aichi was the fastest growing prefecture in terms of population,
beating
Tokyo , at 7.4 per cent.

As of April 1, 2012, 17% of the total land area of the prefecture was
designated as Natural Parks , namely the Aichi Kōgen , Hida-Kisogawa
, Mikawa Wan , and Tenryū-Okumikawa Quasi-National Parks along with
seven Prefectural Natural Parks.

Notable sites in Aichi include the
Meiji Mura open-air architectural
museum in
Inuyama , which preserves historic buildings from Japan's
Meiji and Taishō periods, including the reconstructed lobby of Frank
Lloyd Wright 's old Imperial Hotel (which originally stood in Tokyo
from 1923 to 1967).

Other popular sites in Aichi include the tour of the
Toyota car
factory in the city by the same name, the monkey park in
Inuyama , and
the castles in
Nagoya , Okazaki ,
Toyohashi , and
Inuyama .

Because of Aichi's location along the Eastern seacoast, there are
some scenic spots, but other than the Atsumi Peninsula surf beaches
there are no significant beach destinations when compared to
neighboring
Shizuoka Prefecture . Most attractions are man-made
destinations, dealing with the region's history or modern marvels.